About Me

I'm a director of Maidenhead United Football Club.
For ten seasons one of my roles at the club was to produce the match programme.
The aim of this blog was to write football related articles for publication in the match programme. In particular I like to write about the representation of football in popular culture, specifically music, film/TV and literature.
I also write about matches I attend which generally feature Maidenhead United.

Friday, 4 November 2016

The Men Who Made Modern Football #6 Frank Buckley

Unlike his predecessors in this
series, Frank Buckley was an innovator in some of the darker arts of the
beautiful game which plague us to this day. On the pitch this was his
development of “English” tactics which reached their apogee in the
all-conquering Wolves team of the 1950s. Off it this was the wheeler dealing
transfer market activity which saw him give priority to the bottom line rather
than the needs of the team.

Know commonly as the Major due to
his military service in World War One, Buckley was born to a military family in
Urmston, Lancashire in 1882. He won a scholarship to St Francis Xavier's
College for Boys in Liverpool which was run using the philosophy of
Muscular Christanity cherished by some of his predecessors in this series.

Following his father into a career
in the army, he was spotted by Aston Villa playing football for his regiment
and decided to buy himself out of the army to sign a professional contract. He
went onto play for Brighton, Manchester City and United, Birmingham and Derby,
winning an England cap whilst at the latter, shortly before war broke out in
1914.

Buckley became the first to sign up
for the Football Battalion, rising to the rank of Major by the time they
reached the front in 1916. His football career was effectively ended by an
injury sustained at the Battle of the Somme, but he returned to the front in
1917 and was was "mentioned in dispatches" for the bravery shown
during hand-to-hand fighting.

Following the Armistice, Buckley was
appointed manager of Southern League Norwich, creating a nationwide scouting
network of his former army comrades who were all ex-players, to build a team of
talented young players. He resigned in 1920 following a dispute with the board
and then spent time out of the game as a sweet salesman.

He returned to football in 1923 as
Blackpool instantly making his mark by changing their kit to the distinctive
tangerine well known to this day. As well as buying young talent which he would
sell for a generous fee safe in the knowledge of a replacement already lined
up, Buckley put paramount importance on the physical fitness of his squad. He
combined diet (including a smoking ban) with physiotherapy as well as novel
fitness routines such as weight training. Having established a reputation for
building an effective squad which could be milked to provide a healthy profit,
Buckley was appointed manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1927.

Buckley's stay at Wolves can be
taken two ways. On the face of it, he appeared to achieve only modest success
with the club; they won theDivision Twotitle in1931–32and finished runners-up in theDivision Onein1937–38and in both the First Division and theFA Cupthe following season. An alternative view is that
during his stay atMolineux, Buckley
once made the club a £100,000 profit within one year, purely on transfer deals;
he toyed, provocatively, with the media (instigating the empty rumour that his
players were using a monkey gland treatment to aid performance), he used
psychologists to instil confidence in his players and was responsible for
bringing through Stan Cullis and offeringBilly Wrighta start in
professional football. After he had
left the club, however, the full value of his vision, not least the Wolves
youth programme, came to fruition and did so much to shape the Wolves side of
the 1950s, when they won three Division One championships, twice won the FA
Cup, and were one of few genuine challengers to theBusby Babes.

His impact can be summed up by
Cullis who went onto manage Wolves through their 1950s golden era: "I soon realised that Major Buckley was one out
of the top drawer. He did notsuffer
fools gladly. His style of management in football was very similar to his
attitude in the army. Major Buckley implanted into my mind the direct method of
playing which did away with close interpassing and square-ball play. If you
didn't like his style you'd very soon be on your bicycle to another club. He
didn't like defenders over-elaborating in their defensive positions. Major
Buckley also knew how to deal with the press."

Buckley left Moulineux towards the end of the second
world war and with his scouting network showing his age, made little impact at
his final few short appointments at Notts County, Hull City, Leeds United and
Walsall. He did sign Jack Charlton for the Whites though and started a process
of youth development that would bear fruit in
the Revie era.

This reflected his major
contribution to the English game, that of talent development and profit, with a
focus on physical fitness and simple, direct football. A
blueprint for the mercantile nature of the modern game in this country,
undoubtedly successful but forsaking the emotional tug of attractive football
and glorious success measured by silverware.

1 comment:

F. David 'Ferdie' Gilson
said...

Major Frank Buckley & Stan Cullis are Wolves two most outstanding Managers. Stan Cullis stood on the shoulders of Major Buckley & probably wouldn't have achieved as much had it not been for the Major. My Kind Regards - F. David 'Ferdie' Gilson (South London Harriers, athletics club) 81-year old athletics & sports historian, Wolves Supporter since early 1939 & still a current season ticket holder at Molineux.